[[File:GOT_Logo.png|right|350px]]'''''GameofThrones'''''isanAmericanfantasytelevisionseries produced by the [[HBO]] cable network. Itisbasedonthenovelseries''[[ASongofIceandFire]]'', writtenby [[GeorgeR.R. Martin]] who serves as a producer, creative consultant and scriptwriter on the television series. [[DavidBenioff]] and [[D.B.Weiss]] created the television series and serve as executive producers, showrunners and the main writers.

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'''''GameofThrones'''''isanAmericanfantasytelevisionseriesproducedbythe[[HBO]] cablenetwork. Itisbasedonthenovel series ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', written by [[George R.R. Martin]]whoserves as a producer, creative consultant and scriptwriter on the television series. [[David Benioff]] and [[D.B. Weiss]] created the televisionseriesandserve as executive producers, showrunners and themainwriters.

To date the series consists of two transmitted seasons comprising twenty episodes in total. [[Season 3]] is currently airing. A [[Season 4|fourth season]] has been commissioned, with yet further seasons planned (but not yet confirmed). Production of the series is based in [[wikipedia:Belfast|Belfast]], [[wikipedia:Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland]], mainly at the Paint Hall Studios. It is the largest and most expensive television production ever mounted in Northern Ireland. Filming for the series has also takenplace in [[wikipedia:Malta|Malta]], [[wikipedia:Iceland|Iceland]], [[wikipedia:Croatia|Croatia]] and [[wikipedia:Morocco|Morocco]].

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Production of the series is based in [[wikipedia:Belfast|Belfast]], [[wikipedia:Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland]], mainly at the Paint Hall Studios. It is the largest and most expensive television production ever mounted in Northern Ireland. Filming for the series has also beenconducted in [[wikipedia:Malta|Malta]], [[wikipedia:Iceland|Iceland]], [[wikipedia:Croatia|Croatia]], [[wikipedia:Morocco|Morocco]], [[wikipedia:Spain|Spain]], and the [[wikipedia:United States|USA]].

See the [[production timeline]] for a more detailed history of the show's development and production.

See the [[production timeline]] for a more detailed history of the show's development and production.

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HBO officially greenlit the series on 2 March 2010. Filming of [[Season 1]] began on 23 July, with Malta replacing Morocco for overseas filming. Several actors from the pilot were recast, requiring the re-filming of most of the first episode. The season wrapped filming on 15 December. HBO later confirmed that the first season had a budget of $60 million. The first season aired on HBO on 17 April-19 June 2011, garnering critical acclaim and steadily rising ratings. HBO confirmed after the transmission of the first episode that a second season had been commissioned.

HBO officially greenlit the series on 2 March 2010. Filming of [[Season 1]] began on 23 July, with Malta replacing Morocco for overseas filming. Several actors from the pilot were recast, requiring the re-filming of most of the first episode. The season wrapped filming on 15 December. HBO later confirmed that the first season had a budget of $60 million. The first season aired on HBO on 17 April-19 June 2011, garnering critical acclaim and steadily rising ratings. HBO confirmed after the transmission of the first episode that a second season had been commissioned.

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Production of Season 2 began on 25 July 2011 and wrapped on 12 December. Malta was dropped as a filming location, replaced by Croatia, whilst additional filming took place in Iceland. The budget for Season 2 was 15% higher than Season 1, necessitated by the addition more ambitious effects sequences and the use of CGI creatures such as [[direwolves]] and [[dragons]]. The second season aired on 1 April-3 June 2012, garnering additional critical acclaim and increased ratings. By the end of the second season, the show had become the third-most-successful series in HBO's history, behind only ''[[wikipedia:The Sopranos|The Sopranos]]'' and ''[[wikipedia:True Blood|True Blood]]''. In addition, the DVD and Blu-ray set of Season 1 was released just prior to transmission of Season 2 and immediately became HBO's fastest-selling media release in its history.

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Production of Season 2 began on 25 July 2011 and wrapped on 12 December. Malta was dropped as a filming location, replaced by Croatia, while additional filming took place in Iceland. The budget for Season 2 was 15% higher than Season 1, necessitated by the addition more ambitious effects sequences and the use of CGI creatures such as [[direwolves]] and [[dragons]]. The second season aired from 1 April to 3 June 2012, garnering additional critical acclaim and increased ratings. By the end of the second season, the show had become the third-most-successful series in HBO's history, behind only ''[[wikipedia:The Sopranos|The Sopranos]]'' and ''[[wikipedia:True Blood|True Blood]]''. In addition, the DVD and Blu-ray set of Season 1 was released just prior to transmission of Season 2 and immediately became HBO's fastest-selling media release in its history.

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Production of Season 3 began on 10 July 2012 and wrapped on 24 November. Morocco was added to the filming roster alongside Croatia, Iceland and Northern Ireland, with the complexities of filming requiring the addition of a third filming unit to the existing two. Theseasonisexpectedtoair from 31 March to 2 June 2013.

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Production of Season 3 began on 10 July 2012 and wrapped on 24 November. Morocco was added to the filming roster alongside Croatia, Iceland and Northern Ireland, with the complexities of filming requiring the addition of a third filming unit to the existing two. Anadditionalscenewasshotin Los Angeles for safety reasons, meaning that Season 3 was filmed in five separate countries on three continents. The season aired from 31 March to 2 June 2013. The penultimate episode ''[[The Rains of Castamere (episode)|The Rains of Castamere]]'' won widespread critical acclaim for its shock twist ending. By the end of the season the show had supplanted ''True Blood'' as the second-most successful HBO show in the United States and ''The Sopranos'' as its most successful series worldwide.

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Afourthseason was notconfirmeduntilafterSeason3begantransmission, howeverprep-workforitbeganassoonaswork on Season3wasconcluded.

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ProductionofSeason 4 began on 8 July 2013 and concluded on 21 November. Production was morefocusedthisseason,withonlytwounits used and filming restricted to Northern Ireland, IcelandandCroatia.Thiswastoallowmoreof the budget to be concentrated on severalmajoractionand effects sequences late in the season.

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Two further seasons have been commissioned,<ref>[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-renewed-two-more-694544 The Hollywood Reporter]</ref> taking the show up to a sixth year.

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==Future seasons, and catching up with the books==

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===The initial plan===

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It is generally projected that the TV series will last seven or eight seasons, but no one is entirely sure.

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As of 2014, five books have been published in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series, and author George R.R. Martin has predicted that there will be two more (though he is struggling not to let the final book run long, in which case it would have to be split, for a total of eight books).

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The third novel, ''A Storm of Swords'', was so long that it pushed the limits of how large a published book could physically be without pages falling out. Because the third novel was so long, the production team realized it would be impossible to condense it all into a single season, so the decision was made to adapt its contents across two seasons. While [[Season 3]] ends with the [[Red Wedding]], this actually happened in the ''middle'' of the third novel (similar to how [[Renly Baratheon]] suddenly died in the middle of [[Season 2]]). [[Jon Snow]] returned to [[Castle Black]] by the middle of the third novel. [[Daenerys Targaryen]] had not yet reached [[Meereen]] by the middle of the third novel. A few characters did advance further than this in Season 3, i.e. [[Bran Stark]] actually passed north of the Wall at the end of the third novel (he had so few chapters in the entire book that the TV producers didn't want to space it out for two full seasons).

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As a result, while there are projected to be seven novels, splitting the third novel into two seasons should mean that the TV series will end with Season 8. Even so the producers have never been sure about this, and often simply gave the figure of "seven or eight" seasons.

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===Seasons 5: Intercutting the fourth and fifth novels===

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What was originally planned as the fourth novel was even longer than the third novel, so Martin split it into two novels: ''A Feast for Crows'' (the fourth book) and ''A Dance with Dragons'' (the fifth book). The fourth and fifth books occur during a simultaneous timeframe: all of the chapters set in the [[Seven Kingdoms]] were moved to the fourth book, while all chapters set outside of the Seven Kingdoms (at [[the Wall]] or across the [[Narrow Sea]] in [[Essos]]) were moved to the fifth book. Though of course, despite splitting them because as one book they would have been longer than the third novel, Martin kept making additions to the fourth and fifth novels during the writing process, so both are nearly as long as the third novel.

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It would be odd to spend an entire season with one set of characters while the rest do not appear, then reverse this in the subsequent season. So the TV series's plan is that Seasons 5 will chronologically present events in the order that they happened. This is comparable to how J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Two Towers'' actually consisted of two halves: the first half entirely follows Aragorn since the end of the first novel, then the second half backs up in time to follow only Frodo's perspective, but during the same timeframe since the end of the first novel. Peter Jackson's movie adaptation, however, chose to simply intercut between the two storylines to show events in the chronological order in which they occurred. Thus "Season 5" will consist of the majority of the material from ''A Feast for Crows'' and ''A Dance with Dragons.''

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===Future of the show: How many seasons?===

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Given that there are currently five novels (with the third split into two seasons), but given the fact that the majority of the last two novels will be adapted in season 5, there is currently only enough print material to adapt through the end of Season 5 (for most storylines). Even so, Martin has told producers Benioff & Weiss the general outline of how the final two books are going to progress (so if a bolt of lightning strikes Martin, they'd still be able to finish according to Martin's general plan).

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During [[Season 3]], in an interview with ''Mother Jones'' magazine, Benioff & Weiss said that they thought the TV series might run as many as eight seasons, for a total of 80 episodes, though they were unsure:

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:Mother Jones: "So I gather that Game of Thrones could last eight or nine seasons. Does that mean putting novel writing on hold for a decade?

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:Benioff & Weiss: "Yes, if we live that long and HBO keeps wanting to make the show. '''We have the opportunity here to tell a coherent story that lasts for 80 hours.''' And while a canvas of that size presents all sorts of storytelling problems, it also allows us to spend more time with these characters we love than we'll ever get again.<ref>[http://www.motherjones.com/media/2013/03/hbo-game-thrones-season-3-interview-david-benioff-dan-weiss Benioff & Weiss ''Mother Jones'' interview.]</ref>

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Soon before [[Season 4]] began, however, in early March 2014 executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss made several comments that they actually felt Season 4 was the "midway point" of the TV series, which would probably last ''seven seasons''. On March 11, 2014, they said in ''Entertainment Weekly'':

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:"It feels like this is the midpoint for us...If we’re going to go seven seasons, which is the plan, Season 4 is right down the middle, the pivot point...I would say it's the goal we've had from the beginning...It was our unstated goal, because to start on a show and say your goal is seven seasons is the height of lunacy. Once we got to the point where we felt like we're going to be able to tell this tale to its conclusion, that became [an even clearer] goal. Seven gods, seven kingdoms, seven seasons. It feels right to us.”<ref>[http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/03/11/game-of-thrones-7-seasons/ Entertainment Weekly], March 11th, 2014]</ref>

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The repeated statements Benioff and Weiss made throughout Season 4 that they "always" intended for there to be seven seasons simply contradict previous statements they made in formal print interviews, such as with ''Mother Jones'' in 2013 (though plans can and do change over many years).

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Benioff & Weiss, as well as George R.R. Martin himself, then provided comments for the April 2014 issue of ''Vanity Fair'' (which was released about two weeks after Benioff and Weiss said in ''Entertainment Weekly'' that there might be only seven seasons). Contradicting his statements made at the same time in ''EW'' that "we're going for seven seasons, it's been our goal since the beginning", Benioff instead repeated that the production team wasn't sure if the TV series would last "seven or eight" seasons.

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:"If we're a series and we're four seasons, five seasons in, and it's indefinite as to how long it's gonna go, then I don't think there’s as much pressure as far as, the end is coming, the end is nigh. So, for us, whether it ends up being seven or eight, it's right around there. I think we've always felt — we just completed the fourth season — this is the midpoint. And we're coming around the bend right now."<ref>[http://winteriscoming.net/2014/03/benioff-and-weiss-on-planning-for-the-end-were-coming-around-the-bend-right-now/ Vanity Fair], April 2014</ref>

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Elio and Linda of Westeros.org analyzed these conflicting statements before Season 5 began, and offered an explanation: most TV series do not make their starring cast members sign contracts which last longer than six years. If a TV show is successful enough that it lasts longer than six years, the starring cast members can renegotiate their contracts - and because the show is now a guaranteed hit, their pay can increase drastically. A starring cast member on a longrunning and popular TV series can easily leave the show after the sixth season and enter into a lucrative film career, being paid ''millions'' of dollars instead of the several hundred thousand that a TV series can easily afford to pay them in the same time period. A hit TV series might be popular enough and generate enough revenue to sustain this - but the ''Game of Thrones'' producers have no way of completely guaranteeing that the TV series's ratings will be as high three seasons in the future.

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As a result, in Season 4 the executive producers started backtracking and saying that they had ''always'' intended for only seven seasons, because they were in heavy contract negotiations between the starring cast and [[HBO]]. Now unsure if they would have more than seven seasons (even though they had previously said they felt they needed at least eight to tell the story in full), they didn't want to promise more than they could confirm.

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Westeros.org therefore theorized that going into Season 5, the writers were adapting to a "worst case scenario mode" for the event that they only had seven seasons. This included drastically cutting several major subplots from the novels, such as omitting [[House Greyjoy]]'s subplots almost entirely, not making mention of [[Doran Martell]]'s other children (including his daughter and heir, Arianne), and cutting out many major characters that appear in Tyrion's storyline in the Free Cities. They went on to speculate, however, that once Season 5 had finished production, the TV writers would probably know how the cast contract negotiations worked out, and if it was indeed confirmed that they would get more than seven seasons, they would then restructure accordingly - i.e. not omitting these storylines, but pushing them back to Season 6.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q69aQeKWLQ ]</ref>

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As events unfolded, it was announced in October 2014 that HBO was indeed able to reach a settlement with the starring cast members: based on the unprecedented and continued success of the TV series, HBO agreed to give them all major pay raises. Part of this involved instituting a pay-grade system: while it a large ensemble cast, a few cast members who can arguably be called the core cast. These "Tier A" cast members as they called them were [[Peter Dinklage]] (Tyrion Lannister), [[Lena Headey]] (Cersei Lannister), [[Nikolaj Coster-Waldau]] (Jaime Lannister), [[Kit Harington]] (Jon Snow), and [[Emilia Clarke]] (Daenerys Targaryen).<ref>[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-cast-signs-season-744314 ]</ref> [[Maisie Williams]] (Arya Stark) and [[Sophie Turner]] (Sansa Stark) are not in the Tier A cast - it is possible they aren't paid as much due to being underaged. A later interview with ''Entertainment Weekly'' in March 2015 reported that for Season 5, the Tier A cast members were each paid $300,000 per episode.<ref>[http://watchersonthewall.com/hbo-wants-more-than-seven-seasons-of-game-of-thrones-new-inside-information-on-season-5/ ]</ref>

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As predicted, with these cast contract renegotiations settled, HBO and the writers began intimating that the TV series could run for more than seven seasons. In the same ''Entertainment Weekly'' interview, HBO programming president Michael Lombardo said that the network would eagerly accept the TV series going on for eight to ten seasons, but only if writers Benioff and Weiss felt it served the story instead of dragging it out (though of course, the TV series has not been "padding" the massive novels series, but omitting many subplots for time). Lombardo said:

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:"We'll have an honest conversation that explores all possible avenues. If they [Benioff and Weiss] weren't comfortable going beyond seven seasons, I trust them implicitly and trust that's the right decision—as horrifying as that is to me. What I'm not going to do is have a show continue past where the creators believe where they feel they've finished with the story.<ref>[http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/11/game-thrones-end ]</ref>

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Therefore, now that the crunch of the cast contract renegotiations in Season 5 is over, it seems that HBO is adopting more of a "wait and see" attitude, and while unlikely, they no longer dismiss out of hand the possibility of the show running for ten seasons. This also might mean that plotlines that were omitted in Season 5 will somehow be reintegrated back into Season 6.

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Westeros.org, WatchersOnTheWall.com, and ''Entertainment Weekly'' all agreed, however, that what increasingly seems most probable is that like other major TV series such as ''Mad Men'', ''Game of Thrones'' will probably end with a "double-sized" seventh season, which is then split into two halves and aired a year apart (i.e. 16 episodes instead of 10, broken into two 8 episode blocks). This would ''functionally'' result in the TV series getting "eight seasons", though for purposes of prohibitively expensive cast contract negotiations, it technically wouldn't count as another full season.

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Benioff and Weiss also noted in the March 2015 ''Entertainmenet Weekly'' interview that the pay issue has largely been solved after successful negotiations, and the series continues to bring in revenue with high ratings, but the major issue they deal with now is the time issue: ''Game of Thrones'' is one of the largest TV productions in history, spanning multiple countries with different units filming simultaneously, and the shooting schedule for Season 5 officially lasted a massive 202 days. As they have said before, they physically cannot hope to produce more than 10 episodes at such high quality in a single year, and the scale keeps increasing, with an ever-expanding cast and new set locations. As Weiss said:

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:"The money issue was largely supplanted by the time issue. There’s still the money issue; since television budgets are not movie budgets, you’re always making Sophie’s choices in terms of visual effects. We ran up against the absolute limit of how many days we can shoot in a year."<ref>[http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/17/game-thrones-showrunners?asdf ]</ref>

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===Catching up with the books===

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George R.R. Martin himself, in the same April 2014 issue of ''Vanity Fair'', addressed the major and related question which is frequently asked: what will happen if the TV series outpaces the remaining books? What if Martin cannot finish the next novel (the sixth, ''The Winds of Winter'') before Season 6 has to enter production?

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Martin stated that while he is trying to focus on writing the remaining novels, he is opposed to ''rushing'' them to finish to match the TV series, given that he wants his novels to stand the test of time for decades, like J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Thus while Martin is hurrying, he has accepted that it a real possibility that he cannot finish the next two novels in time.

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Martin declined writing an episode for Season 5 to focus on writing ''The Winds of Winter'', and in March 2015 canceled all of his future convention appearances to focus on writing it. Even so, it now appears all but certain that at least the final season of the TV series will probably be released before the final novel, ''A Dream of Spring''.<ref>[http://www.westeros.org/ASoWS/News/Entry/GRRM_on_Season_5_Cancelling_Appearances ]</ref>

==Casting==

==Casting==

With 250 speaking roles, almost 90 of them named, the cast was the largest ever assembled for the debut season of a HBO project. The cast grew even larger in the second and third seasons.

With 250 speaking roles, almost 90 of them named, the cast was the largest ever assembled for the debut season of a HBO project. The cast grew even larger in the second and third seasons.

[[Jennifer Ehle]] was initially cast as [[Catelyn Stark]], but after filming the pilot HBO decided to recast the role with [[Michelle Fairley]]. No further details have been given for the reason behind this decision, except that it was amicable. In a similar manner, [[Tamzin Merchant]] was initially cast as [[Daenerys Targaryen]], but after filming the pilot she was replaced by newcomer [[Emilia Clarke]].

[[Jennifer Ehle]] was initially cast as [[Catelyn Stark]], but after filming the pilot HBO decided to recast the role with [[Michelle Fairley]]. No further details have been given for the reason behind this decision, except that it was amicable. In a similar manner, [[Tamzin Merchant]] was initially cast as [[Daenerys Targaryen]], but after filming the pilot she was replaced by newcomer [[Emilia Clarke]].

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For the second season, a number of new characters were introduced, including [[Stephen Dillane]] as Lord [[Stannis Baratheon]], [[Carice van Houten]] as [[Melisandre]], [[Liam Cunningham]] as [[Davos Seaworth]] and [[Michael McElhatton]] as [[Roose Bolton]].

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For the second season, a number of new cast members were introduced, including [[Stephen Dillane]] as Lord [[Stannis Baratheon]], [[Carice van Houten]] as [[Melisandre]], [[Liam Cunningham]] as [[Davos Seaworth]], [[NatalieDormer]] as [[Margaery Tyrell]], [[Gwendoline Christie]] as [[Brienne of Tarth]], [[Michael McElhatton]] as [[Roose Bolton]], [[Rose Leslie]] as [[Ygritte]] and [[Hannah Murray]] as [[Gilly]].

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For the third season, the cast was further swelled with additions, including [[Diana Rigg]] as [[Olenna Tyrell]], [[Iwan Rheon]] as [[Ramsay Snow]], [[Ciaran Hinds]] as [[Mance Rayder]], [[Kristofer Hivju]] as [[Tormund Giantsbane]] and [[Nathalie Emmanuel]] as [[Missandei]].

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For the fourth season, only a few new cast members were added, including [[Pedro Pascal]] as [[Oberyn Martell]], [[Indira Varma]] as [[Ellaria Sand]], [[Michiel Huisman]] as [[Daario Naharis]] and [[Roger Ashton-Griffiths]] as [[Mace Tyrell]].

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Forthe third season, the castwasfurtherswelledwithadditions, including [[DianaRigg]] as [[OlennaRedwyne|Olenna Tyrell]], [[TobiasMenzies]] as [[EdmureTully]], [[CliveRussell]] as [[BryndenTully]], [[CiaranHinds]] as [[ManceRayder]] and [[MackenzieCrook]] as [[Orell]].

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Thefifth season marked the introductionofmanynewcastmembers, including [[AlexanderSiddig]] as [[DoranMartell]], [[JonathanPryce]] as the [[HighSparrow]] and [[KeishaCastle-Hughes]], [[JessicaHenwick]] and [[Rosabell LaurentiSellers]] as the Sand Snakes: [[ObaraSand|Obara]], [[NymeriaSand|Nymeria]] and [[Tyene Sand]].

==Premise==

==Premise==

The series is set on a world where the seasons can last for years at a time. The main setting is the continent of [[Westeros]], which was home to seven feuding kingdoms until they were united by the [[House Targaryen|Targaryen]] family using [[dragons]] some three centuries ago. The dragons died out and the Targaryen [[Mad King]] was unseated in a civil war led by Lords [[Robert Baratheon]] and [[Eddard Stark]], seventeen years before the series opens. Robert has ruled as King ever since, but when the series opens his rule is increasingly undermined by other factions. At the same time, two surviving Targaryen children, having grown to adulthood in exile on the eastern continent of [[Essos]], are now planning to return and retake the [[Iron Throne]], and to this end are seeking a military alliance with other factions.

The series is set on a world where the seasons can last for years at a time. The main setting is the continent of [[Westeros]], which was home to seven feuding kingdoms until they were united by the [[House Targaryen|Targaryen]] family using [[dragons]] some three centuries ago. The dragons died out and the Targaryen [[Mad King]] was unseated in a civil war led by Lords [[Robert Baratheon]] and [[Eddard Stark]], seventeen years before the series opens. Robert has ruled as King ever since, but when the series opens his rule is increasingly undermined by other factions. At the same time, two surviving Targaryen children, having grown to adulthood in exile on the eastern continent of [[Essos]], are now planning to return and retake the [[Iron Throne]], and to this end are seeking a military alliance with other factions.

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As both civil war and an external invasion threaten Westeros, another danger arises in the lands to the far north, beyond the vast [[Wall]] that forms the realm's northern border, where [[White Walkers|a supernatural threat]] believed to be mythical seems to be stirring after millennia of sleep. The only defence lies with the [[Night's Watch]], an under-manned, under-funded order of soldiers once held in honor but now used as a dumping ground for criminals and exiles.

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As both civil war and an external invasion threaten Westeros, another danger arises in the lands to the far north, beyond the vast [[Wall]] that forms the realm's northern border, where [[White Walkers|a supernatural threat]] believed to be mythical seems to be stirring after millennia of sleep. The only defense lies with the [[Night's Watch]], an under-manned, under-funded order of soldiers once held in honor but now used as a dumping ground for criminals and exiles.

==The Great Houses==

==The Great Houses==

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** [[House Umber]] of the [[Last Hearth]]: vassals of the Starks who rule over the lands between Winterfell and the Wall. Led by Lord [[Greatjon Umber]].

** [[House Umber]] of the [[Last Hearth]]: vassals of the Starks who rule over the lands between Winterfell and the Wall. Led by Lord [[Greatjon Umber]].

** [[House Karstark]] of [[Karhold]]: vassals of the Starks who rule over the north-eastern lands of the North. Led by Lord [[Rickard Karstark]].

** [[House Karstark]] of [[Karhold]]: vassals of the Starks who rule over the north-eastern lands of the North. Led by Lord [[Rickard Karstark]].

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** [[House Glover]] of [[DeepwoodMotte]]: vassals of the Starks who rule over the north-westernlands of the North. Led by Lord [[GalbartGlover]].

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** [[House Mormont]] of [[BearIsland]]: vassals of the Starks who rule over Bear Island, which is north west of Winterfell. Led by [[MaegeMormont]].

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** [[House Mormont]] of [[Bear Island]]: vassals of the Starks who rule over Bear Island. Led by Lady [[Maege Mormont]].

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** [[House Reed]] of [[Greywater Watch]]: vassals of the Starks who rule over the southern-most parts of the North. Led by Lord [[Howland Reed]].

* [[House Lannister]] of [[Casterly Rock]]: rulers of the [[Westerlands]]. Richest house in Westeros. Led by Lord [[Tywin Lannister]].

* [[House Lannister]] of [[Casterly Rock]]: rulers of the [[Westerlands]]. Richest house in Westeros. Led by Lord [[Tywin Lannister]].

** [[House Clegane]] of [[Clegane's Keep]]: a house of landed knights in the service of the Lannisters. Led by Ser [[Gregor Clegane]], the Mountain.

** [[House Clegane]] of [[Clegane's Keep]]: a house of landed knights in the service of the Lannisters. Led by Ser [[Gregor Clegane]], the Mountain.

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* [[House Tully]] of [[Riverrun]]: rulers of the [[Riverlands]], the well-traveled central region of the continent. Led by Lord [[Hoster Tully]].

* [[House Tully]] of [[Riverrun]]: rulers of the [[Riverlands]], the well-traveled central region of the continent. Led by Lord [[Hoster Tully]].

** [[House Frey]] of [[the Twins]]: vassals of the Tullys who hold the only major crossing of the [[Green Fork]] of the [[Trident]]. Noted for their large numbers and tendency to always pick the winning side. Led by the ancient Lord [[Walder Frey]].

** [[House Frey]] of [[the Twins]]: vassals of the Tullys who hold the only major crossing of the [[Green Fork]] of the [[Trident]]. Noted for their large numbers and tendency to always pick the winning side. Led by the ancient Lord [[Walder Frey]].

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** [[House Bracken]] of [[Stone Hedge]]: loyal vassals of the Tullys, noted for their prickly relationship with their neighbours, the [[House Blackwood|Blackwoods]]. Led by Lord [[Jonos Bracken]].

* [[House Greyjoy]] of [[Pyke (castle)|Pyke]]: rulers of the [[Iron Islands]] off the west coast of the continent. The [[ironborn]] are fierce and independently-minded, but a [[Greyjoy Rebellion|recent attempt]] to rebel against the Iron Throne was defeated. Led by Lord [[Balon Greyjoy]].

* [[House Greyjoy]] of [[Pyke (castle)|Pyke]]: rulers of the [[Iron Islands]] off the west coast of the continent. The [[ironborn]] are fierce and independently-minded, but a [[Greyjoy Rebellion|recent attempt]] to rebel against the Iron Throne was defeated. Led by Lord [[Balon Greyjoy]].

* [[House Martell]] of [[Sunspear]]: rulers of [[Dorne]], the southern-most region of the continent. Separated from the rest of Westeros by extensive mountains and a sea, the Dornish mostly keep to themselves. Led by Prince Doran Martell.

* [[House Martell]] of [[Sunspear]]: rulers of [[Dorne]], the southern-most region of the continent. Separated from the rest of Westeros by extensive mountains and a sea, the Dornish mostly keep to themselves. Led by Prince Doran Martell.

* [[wikipedia:NorthernIrelandScreen#The Paint Hall|The Paint Hall Studios]] in Belfast is being used for all primary interior sets.

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* Malta(season1)

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* Locationfilmingfor the prologue and the discovery of the direwolf cubs took place at [[wikipedia:Tollymore Forest Park|Tollymore Forest Park]] near [[wikipedia:Newcastle, County Down|Newcastle]] in [[wikipedia:County Down|County Down]].

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* Croatia(season2-)

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* Locationfilmingfor some exteriors near Winterfell, including the execution in Season 1 Episode 1 of Will, who fled the Night's Watch, took place at [[wikipedia:Cairncastle|Cairncastle]] in [[wikipedia:County Antrim|County Antrim]].

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* Iceland(season2-)

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* Locationfilmingfor some courtyard scenes at Winterfell, including Tommen and Bran's practice bout, took place at [[wikipedia:Castle Ward|Castle Ward]] in County Down.

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* Morocco(season3)

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* Spain (season 5-)

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===Scotland===

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* The Clanranald Trust's 'Combat International' team have confirmed they will be taking part in the production for some scenes that will be filmed at a castle in [[wikipedia:Scotland|Scotland]]. [[wikipedia:Doune Castle|Doune Castle]], used for some scenes in the movie ''[[wikipedia:Monty Python and the Holy Grail|Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'', is being used for some scenes involving guardsmen displaying the livery of House Lannister, suggesting that it will be used to depict the courtyard of Winterfell. Filming of the pilot began at Doune Castle on 24 October.

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===Morocco (pilot only)===

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* [[wikipedia:Morocco|Morocco]] was used for the filming of the scenes involving Daenerys and Viserys Targaryen in [[Pentos]]. Some of the castle sets constructed for the movie ''[[wikipedia:Kingdom of Heaven|Kingdom of Heaven]]'' were also reused for the project.

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* Atlas Studios and some other locations at [[wikipedia:Ouarzazate|Ouarzazate]] are the primary locations where filming took place in Morocco.

==Filming dates==

==Filming dates==

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* Production of the rest of Season 1, including reshoots on the pilot, commenced on 23 July 2010 and ran through 18 December 2010. Filming took place in Northern Ireland and Malta.

* Production of the rest of Season 1, including reshoots on the pilot, commenced on 23 July 2010 and ran through 18 December 2010. Filming took place in Northern Ireland and Malta.

* Production of Season 2 ran from 25 July 2011 to 12 December 2011. Filming took place in Northern Ireland, Iceland and Croatia (replacing Malta).

* Production of Season 2 ran from 25 July 2011 to 12 December 2011. Filming took place in Northern Ireland, Iceland and Croatia (replacing Malta).

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* Production of Season 3 ran from 10 July to 24 November 2012, with Morocco added to the filming roster.

+

* Production of Season 3 ran from 10 July to 24 November 2012, with Morocco added to the filming roster. An additional scene was also shot in Los Angeles, meaning that filming for Season 3 took place in five countries and on three continents.

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* Production of Season 4 ran from 8 July to 21 November 2013. Filming took place in Northern Ireland, Iceland and Croatia, with Morocco dropped. Filming in Iceland was expanded to encompass locations in the south of Westeros as well as beyond the Wall, and took place earlier in the schedule to allow for more filming time.

==External links==

==External links==

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* [http://winter-is-coming.blogspot.com/ Winter is Coming] - a blog dedicated to covering all developments on the production as they happen.

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* [http://watchersonthewall.com/ WatchersOnTheWall.com] - a fansite dedicated to covering all developments on the production as they happen.

* [http://www.westeros.org/GoT/ Westeros.org] - a subset of the Westeros.org website which covers developments on the series.

* [http://www.westeros.org/GoT/ Westeros.org] - a subset of the Westeros.org website which covers developments on the series.

Latest revision as of 19:56, March 28, 2015

Game of Thrones is an American fantasy television series produced by the HBO cable network. It is based on the novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, written by George R.R. Martin who serves as a producer, creative consultant and scriptwriter on the television series. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss created the television series and serve as executive producers, showrunners and the main writers.

To date, the series consists of four transmitted seasons comprising fourty episodes in total. Two further seasons have been commissioned,[1] taking the show up to a sixth year/season.

Production of the series is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, mainly at the Paint Hall Studios. It is the largest and most expensive television production ever mounted in Northern Ireland. Filming for the series has also been conducted in Malta, Iceland, Croatia, Morocco, Spain, and the USA.

See the production timeline for a more detailed history of the show's development and production.

David Benioff was sent a collection of the first four novels in the series (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows) by George R.R. Martin's agent. Initially sceptical of the fantasy genre, Benioff became a big fan of the books and invited his friend D.B. Weiss to develop the project with him for a screen adaptation. They initially considered a movie adaption, but realized this would mean losing most of the plot and characters from the books. Instead, they began working on an adaptation for television. They met with George R.R. Martin and spent several hours discussing the project. Martin was impressed with their enthusiasm and that they had already worked out the resolutions to several key mysteries in the books. He agreed with them that the series was a good fit for the cable company HBO, which Martin was already a big fan of.

HBO agreed to option the project in 2007 and active development of a pilot script began. However, this was delayed by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. In October 2008 HBO exercised its option to buy the rights to the series and ordered a pilot episode a few weeks later. Casting announcements were made throughout 2009, with Peter Dinklage the first actor formally announced for the series. The pilot episode was filmed in Northern Ireland and Morocco in October and November 2009.

HBO officially greenlit the series on 2 March 2010. Filming of Season 1 began on 23 July, with Malta replacing Morocco for overseas filming. Several actors from the pilot were recast, requiring the re-filming of most of the first episode. The season wrapped filming on 15 December. HBO later confirmed that the first season had a budget of $60 million. The first season aired on HBO on 17 April-19 June 2011, garnering critical acclaim and steadily rising ratings. HBO confirmed after the transmission of the first episode that a second season had been commissioned.

Production of Season 2 began on 25 July 2011 and wrapped on 12 December. Malta was dropped as a filming location, replaced by Croatia, while additional filming took place in Iceland. The budget for Season 2 was 15% higher than Season 1, necessitated by the addition more ambitious effects sequences and the use of CGI creatures such as direwolves and dragons. The second season aired from 1 April to 3 June 2012, garnering additional critical acclaim and increased ratings. By the end of the second season, the show had become the third-most-successful series in HBO's history, behind only The Sopranos and True Blood. In addition, the DVD and Blu-ray set of Season 1 was released just prior to transmission of Season 2 and immediately became HBO's fastest-selling media release in its history.

Production of Season 3 began on 10 July 2012 and wrapped on 24 November. Morocco was added to the filming roster alongside Croatia, Iceland and Northern Ireland, with the complexities of filming requiring the addition of a third filming unit to the existing two. An additional scene was shot in Los Angeles for safety reasons, meaning that Season 3 was filmed in five separate countries on three continents. The season aired from 31 March to 2 June 2013. The penultimate episode The Rains of Castamere won widespread critical acclaim for its shock twist ending. By the end of the season the show had supplanted True Blood as the second-most successful HBO show in the United States and The Sopranos as its most successful series worldwide.

Production of Season 4 began on 8 July 2013 and concluded on 21 November. Production was more focused this season, with only two units used and filming restricted to Northern Ireland, Iceland and Croatia. This was to allow more of the budget to be concentrated on several major action and effects sequences late in the season.

Two further seasons have been commissioned,[2] taking the show up to a sixth year.

It is generally projected that the TV series will last seven or eight seasons, but no one is entirely sure.

As of 2014, five books have been published in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and author George R.R. Martin has predicted that there will be two more (though he is struggling not to let the final book run long, in which case it would have to be split, for a total of eight books).

The third novel, A Storm of Swords, was so long that it pushed the limits of how large a published book could physically be without pages falling out. Because the third novel was so long, the production team realized it would be impossible to condense it all into a single season, so the decision was made to adapt its contents across two seasons. While Season 3 ends with the Red Wedding, this actually happened in the middle of the third novel (similar to how Renly Baratheon suddenly died in the middle of Season 2). Jon Snow returned to Castle Black by the middle of the third novel. Daenerys Targaryen had not yet reached Meereen by the middle of the third novel. A few characters did advance further than this in Season 3, i.e. Bran Stark actually passed north of the Wall at the end of the third novel (he had so few chapters in the entire book that the TV producers didn't want to space it out for two full seasons).

As a result, while there are projected to be seven novels, splitting the third novel into two seasons should mean that the TV series will end with Season 8. Even so the producers have never been sure about this, and often simply gave the figure of "seven or eight" seasons.

What was originally planned as the fourth novel was even longer than the third novel, so Martin split it into two novels: A Feast for Crows (the fourth book) and A Dance with Dragons (the fifth book). The fourth and fifth books occur during a simultaneous timeframe: all of the chapters set in the Seven Kingdoms were moved to the fourth book, while all chapters set outside of the Seven Kingdoms (at the Wall or across the Narrow Sea in Essos) were moved to the fifth book. Though of course, despite splitting them because as one book they would have been longer than the third novel, Martin kept making additions to the fourth and fifth novels during the writing process, so both are nearly as long as the third novel.

It would be odd to spend an entire season with one set of characters while the rest do not appear, then reverse this in the subsequent season. So the TV series's plan is that Seasons 5 will chronologically present events in the order that they happened. This is comparable to how J.R.R. Tolkien's The Two Towers actually consisted of two halves: the first half entirely follows Aragorn since the end of the first novel, then the second half backs up in time to follow only Frodo's perspective, but during the same timeframe since the end of the first novel. Peter Jackson's movie adaptation, however, chose to simply intercut between the two storylines to show events in the chronological order in which they occurred. Thus "Season 5" will consist of the majority of the material from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons.

Given that there are currently five novels (with the third split into two seasons), but given the fact that the majority of the last two novels will be adapted in season 5, there is currently only enough print material to adapt through the end of Season 5 (for most storylines). Even so, Martin has told producers Benioff & Weiss the general outline of how the final two books are going to progress (so if a bolt of lightning strikes Martin, they'd still be able to finish according to Martin's general plan).

During Season 3, in an interview with Mother Jones magazine, Benioff & Weiss said that they thought the TV series might run as many as eight seasons, for a total of 80 episodes, though they were unsure:

Mother Jones: "So I gather that Game of Thrones could last eight or nine seasons. Does that mean putting novel writing on hold for a decade?

Benioff & Weiss: "Yes, if we live that long and HBO keeps wanting to make the show. We have the opportunity here to tell a coherent story that lasts for 80 hours. And while a canvas of that size presents all sorts of storytelling problems, it also allows us to spend more time with these characters we love than we'll ever get again.[3]

Soon before Season 4 began, however, in early March 2014 executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss made several comments that they actually felt Season 4 was the "midway point" of the TV series, which would probably last seven seasons. On March 11, 2014, they said in Entertainment Weekly:

"It feels like this is the midpoint for us...If we’re going to go seven seasons, which is the plan, Season 4 is right down the middle, the pivot point...I would say it's the goal we've had from the beginning...It was our unstated goal, because to start on a show and say your goal is seven seasons is the height of lunacy. Once we got to the point where we felt like we're going to be able to tell this tale to its conclusion, that became [an even clearer] goal. Seven gods, seven kingdoms, seven seasons. It feels right to us.”[4]

The repeated statements Benioff and Weiss made throughout Season 4 that they "always" intended for there to be seven seasons simply contradict previous statements they made in formal print interviews, such as with Mother Jones in 2013 (though plans can and do change over many years).

Benioff & Weiss, as well as George R.R. Martin himself, then provided comments for the April 2014 issue of Vanity Fair (which was released about two weeks after Benioff and Weiss said in Entertainment Weekly that there might be only seven seasons). Contradicting his statements made at the same time in EW that "we're going for seven seasons, it's been our goal since the beginning", Benioff instead repeated that the production team wasn't sure if the TV series would last "seven or eight" seasons.

"If we're a series and we're four seasons, five seasons in, and it's indefinite as to how long it's gonna go, then I don't think there’s as much pressure as far as, the end is coming, the end is nigh. So, for us, whether it ends up being seven or eight, it's right around there. I think we've always felt — we just completed the fourth season — this is the midpoint. And we're coming around the bend right now."[5]

Elio and Linda of Westeros.org analyzed these conflicting statements before Season 5 began, and offered an explanation: most TV series do not make their starring cast members sign contracts which last longer than six years. If a TV show is successful enough that it lasts longer than six years, the starring cast members can renegotiate their contracts - and because the show is now a guaranteed hit, their pay can increase drastically. A starring cast member on a longrunning and popular TV series can easily leave the show after the sixth season and enter into a lucrative film career, being paid millions of dollars instead of the several hundred thousand that a TV series can easily afford to pay them in the same time period. A hit TV series might be popular enough and generate enough revenue to sustain this - but the Game of Thrones producers have no way of completely guaranteeing that the TV series's ratings will be as high three seasons in the future.

As a result, in Season 4 the executive producers started backtracking and saying that they had always intended for only seven seasons, because they were in heavy contract negotiations between the starring cast and HBO. Now unsure if they would have more than seven seasons (even though they had previously said they felt they needed at least eight to tell the story in full), they didn't want to promise more than they could confirm.

Westeros.org therefore theorized that going into Season 5, the writers were adapting to a "worst case scenario mode" for the event that they only had seven seasons. This included drastically cutting several major subplots from the novels, such as omitting House Greyjoy's subplots almost entirely, not making mention of Doran Martell's other children (including his daughter and heir, Arianne), and cutting out many major characters that appear in Tyrion's storyline in the Free Cities. They went on to speculate, however, that once Season 5 had finished production, the TV writers would probably know how the cast contract negotiations worked out, and if it was indeed confirmed that they would get more than seven seasons, they would then restructure accordingly - i.e. not omitting these storylines, but pushing them back to Season 6.[6]

As events unfolded, it was announced in October 2014 that HBO was indeed able to reach a settlement with the starring cast members: based on the unprecedented and continued success of the TV series, HBO agreed to give them all major pay raises. Part of this involved instituting a pay-grade system: while it a large ensemble cast, a few cast members who can arguably be called the core cast. These "Tier A" cast members as they called them were Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), and Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen).[7]Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) are not in the Tier A cast - it is possible they aren't paid as much due to being underaged. A later interview with Entertainment Weekly in March 2015 reported that for Season 5, the Tier A cast members were each paid $300,000 per episode.[8]

As predicted, with these cast contract renegotiations settled, HBO and the writers began intimating that the TV series could run for more than seven seasons. In the same Entertainment Weekly interview, HBO programming president Michael Lombardo said that the network would eagerly accept the TV series going on for eight to ten seasons, but only if writers Benioff and Weiss felt it served the story instead of dragging it out (though of course, the TV series has not been "padding" the massive novels series, but omitting many subplots for time). Lombardo said:

"We'll have an honest conversation that explores all possible avenues. If they [Benioff and Weiss] weren't comfortable going beyond seven seasons, I trust them implicitly and trust that's the right decision—as horrifying as that is to me. What I'm not going to do is have a show continue past where the creators believe where they feel they've finished with the story.[9]

Therefore, now that the crunch of the cast contract renegotiations in Season 5 is over, it seems that HBO is adopting more of a "wait and see" attitude, and while unlikely, they no longer dismiss out of hand the possibility of the show running for ten seasons. This also might mean that plotlines that were omitted in Season 5 will somehow be reintegrated back into Season 6.

Westeros.org, WatchersOnTheWall.com, and Entertainment Weekly all agreed, however, that what increasingly seems most probable is that like other major TV series such as Mad Men, Game of Thrones will probably end with a "double-sized" seventh season, which is then split into two halves and aired a year apart (i.e. 16 episodes instead of 10, broken into two 8 episode blocks). This would functionally result in the TV series getting "eight seasons", though for purposes of prohibitively expensive cast contract negotiations, it technically wouldn't count as another full season.

Benioff and Weiss also noted in the March 2015 Entertainmenet Weekly interview that the pay issue has largely been solved after successful negotiations, and the series continues to bring in revenue with high ratings, but the major issue they deal with now is the time issue: Game of Thrones is one of the largest TV productions in history, spanning multiple countries with different units filming simultaneously, and the shooting schedule for Season 5 officially lasted a massive 202 days. As they have said before, they physically cannot hope to produce more than 10 episodes at such high quality in a single year, and the scale keeps increasing, with an ever-expanding cast and new set locations. As Weiss said:

"The money issue was largely supplanted by the time issue. There’s still the money issue; since television budgets are not movie budgets, you’re always making Sophie’s choices in terms of visual effects. We ran up against the absolute limit of how many days we can shoot in a year."[10]

George R.R. Martin himself, in the same April 2014 issue of Vanity Fair, addressed the major and related question which is frequently asked: what will happen if the TV series outpaces the remaining books? What if Martin cannot finish the next novel (the sixth, The Winds of Winter) before Season 6 has to enter production?

Martin stated that while he is trying to focus on writing the remaining novels, he is opposed to rushing them to finish to match the TV series, given that he wants his novels to stand the test of time for decades, like J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Thus while Martin is hurrying, he has accepted that it a real possibility that he cannot finish the next two novels in time.

Martin declined writing an episode for Season 5 to focus on writing The Winds of Winter, and in March 2015 canceled all of his future convention appearances to focus on writing it. Even so, it now appears all but certain that at least the final season of the TV series will probably be released before the final novel, A Dream of Spring.[11]

The series is set on a world where the seasons can last for years at a time. The main setting is the continent of Westeros, which was home to seven feuding kingdoms until they were united by the Targaryen family using dragons some three centuries ago. The dragons died out and the Targaryen Mad King was unseated in a civil war led by Lords Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark, seventeen years before the series opens. Robert has ruled as King ever since, but when the series opens his rule is increasingly undermined by other factions. At the same time, two surviving Targaryen children, having grown to adulthood in exile on the eastern continent of Essos, are now planning to return and retake the Iron Throne, and to this end are seeking a military alliance with other factions.

As both civil war and an external invasion threaten Westeros, another danger arises in the lands to the far north, beyond the vast Wall that forms the realm's northern border, where a supernatural threat believed to be mythical seems to be stirring after millennia of sleep. The only defense lies with the Night's Watch, an under-manned, under-funded order of soldiers once held in honor but now used as a dumping ground for criminals and exiles.

Westeros is ruled by nine noble houses, who in turn command hundreds of lesser vassal houses. Each of the Great Houses rules a large region and commands significant armies and power in their own right. A list of the Great Houses and some of their more significant vassals follows:

House Tyrell of Highgarden: rulers of the Reach, a vast, fertile region in the south of Westeros. The most populous region of the continent and able to field the largest armies. Led by Lord Mace Tyrell.

House Martell of Sunspear: rulers of Dorne, the southern-most region of the continent. Separated from the rest of Westeros by extensive mountains and a sea, the Dornish mostly keep to themselves. Led by Prince Doran Martell.

The pilot was originally expected to be filmed between 12 October and 6 November 2009, but there was a two-week delay in pre-production. A read-through of the script was held on 12 October 2009. Production and on-location rehearsals began on 24 October. Filming commenced on 26 October and concluded on 19 November.

Scenes at Doune Castle were filmed on 26–27 October 2009 and are believed to include the Winterfell feast to celebrate King Robert's visit. Some filming was also done in the courtyard.

The prologue was filmed on 29 October 2009 at Tollymore Forest Park.

Filming at Cairncastle took place on 2 November 2009, including the scene of Gared's execution and finding the dead direwolf in the snow.

Filming of the scene between Ros, Tyrion and Jaime in King's Landing was filmed on or prior to 3 November 2009, possibly at the Paint Hall studios.

Filming at Castle Ward took place on 5 November 2009, including the scenes of Tommen and Bran sparring and Sandor and Joffrey insulting Rodrik and Robb.

The UK filming bloc was expected to last for 18 days, suggesting that it would finish around 12 November 2009. George R.R. Martin confirmed on his blog that after this date production would move to Morocco for the remainder of the shoot.

Daenerys and Khal Drogo's wedding was filmed on 16 November 2009.

Production of the rest of Season 1, including reshoots on the pilot, commenced on 23 July 2010 and ran through 18 December 2010. Filming took place in Northern Ireland and Malta.

Production of Season 2 ran from 25 July 2011 to 12 December 2011. Filming took place in Northern Ireland, Iceland and Croatia (replacing Malta).

Production of Season 3 ran from 10 July to 24 November 2012, with Morocco added to the filming roster. An additional scene was also shot in Los Angeles, meaning that filming for Season 3 took place in five countries and on three continents.

Production of Season 4 ran from 8 July to 21 November 2013. Filming took place in Northern Ireland, Iceland and Croatia, with Morocco dropped. Filming in Iceland was expanded to encompass locations in the south of Westeros as well as beyond the Wall, and took place earlier in the schedule to allow for more filming time.